State officials mourn Nelson C. L. Brown, former House speaker

HARTFORD -- Nelson C.L. Brown, a former radio broadcaster who parlayed his popularity as state House Speaker into decades of lobbying for open government, has died at a hospice facility. He was 89.

Brown died late Wednesday near his childhood hometown of Groton, said Mitchell Pearlman, a close friend of Brown's for decades and former executive director of the state Freedom of Information Commission.

Brown, a Republican who represented Glastonbury in the House of Representatives, presided over that chamber as speaker in 1957-58 and remained active for 50 years afterward by lobbying for open-government legislation.

Often called the dean of former House speakers, Brown returned to the Capitol each year for ceremonies marking the General Assembly's opening day. He continued that tradition last winter when the 2011 session was convened, though the affable former lobbyist's declining health due to diabetes complications required him to use a wheelchair.

Funeral arrangements were being made Thursday.

"He was truly a model human being," said state Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, who served with Brown on the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government.

"Even when he disagreed with others, he had a way of expressing his disagreement that was so thoughtful and gentlemanly that it was extremely disarming," he said. "I hope they name awards, or buildings, or both after him."

He was elected to the state House in 1952 and later rose to speaker, presiding over a chamber of 290 members -- forcing Brown to spend up to an hour to read their names aloud for roll call votes, a task later erased when the Capitol installed electronic tallying equipment.

After his legislative service, Brown was in the nonprofit Connecticut Foundation for Open Government, and was the longtime lobbyist for the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information and the Connecticut Broadcasting Association.

He also served more than 15 years on the state's Gaming Policy Board, including as its chairman, and served twice on committees to guide Connecticut's process of drawing new lines for legislative and congressional districts.

State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, a Republican from Fairfield who had known Brown for decades, praised him as someone dedicated to fighting for "the public's right to know not only what its government was doing, but how it was doing it."

"His efforts helped bring the processes of state government out of the shadows and into the light of public view," he said.